The Baker of Republic City
by Bellothir
Summary: Shen, a baker, has it rough. He's constantly berated to hand over "protection" to the Triple Threat Triads and it gets worse as they demand more yuans from him every month. But no matter how tough his life is, he smiles and keeps on baking for his customers at his baking stand. After a tussle he has with the Triple Threats, he meets a certain someone.
1. Chapter 1

**This is just a story I thought of one day after watching Avatar and the first season of the Legend of Korra. If it's sub-par or there might be conflicting problems with the characters, that's mostly because the first four of the chapters coming up were written a few months ago and I thought putting them up here for every fan of Avatar and Legend of Korra would be good. Also, I enjoy some criticism as long as it's not negative and it's constructive. I am looking them over and edit them if there's a problem with it.**

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**Chapter 1**

The sun was at its highest in Republic City and the heat was pretty normal. The people were chatting, the children were playing the Central City Station near the fountain, and the shopkeepers were keeping their heads down in case the Triple Threat Triads approached them.

And in Central City Station, there was one man who was greatly afraid of the Triple Threats and he had no courage in fighting back. It was a waterbending baker near the fountain named Shen.

He was a simple young man in his twenties, who kept to himself, but was always smiling to his customers as they approached to buy his famous Freshly Baked Commodities such as bread, biscuits, and buns of different types. Nobody really understood how Shen could keep his head up since he had to pay protection money to the Triple Threats every month he naively agreed to when he opened the stand up. He didn't look like the type to defend himself if things got out of hand.

Shen wiped his forehead as his long almond brown hair got in his face. He stroked his bangs behind his ears and continued kneading the dough for his bread.

He had always had a passion for baking ever since he was a child. His mother taught him and always encouraged him to make more when he succeeded baking a batch of biscuits for her. There was something about seeing a customer smile and enjoy the food that made him more motivated to continue his baking, eventually causing Shen to create his own business when he arrived to Republic City, like he always dreamed.

The green-eyed baker lifted the dough with one hand and examined it, making sure it was the perfect size for bread. Shen then looked behind himself at his partner Yizhi, who was busy working on the buns.

Yizhi was much older than he was, about in his late twenties, and he had a slight muscular build. He looked like he could lift Shen with both hands, which has happened before, but Yizhi was considered a gentle man in Shen's eyes.

Yizhi was also a firebender, who was previously a pro-bender before he permanently injured his leg from a street fight years ago, which ended his promising pro-bending career almost instantly. One day, Yizhi noticed that Shen was having trouble baking things since he was only a waterbender and barely any business came to the stand. He offered to help him, but only if he was the one in charge of baking and would get a share of the profit. Shen almost instantly agreed and they've been working together ever since.

He handed the dough to Yizhi with a smile and said "Here. This one's ready. Take it to the kitchen to get cooked, okay? Preferably in five minutes or so."

Without a word, Yizhi took the dough and put it aside to bake it later.

"I'll make sure it doesn't burn this time like yesterday. I used a bit too much fire, but that was because I got distracted." Yizhi assured with a small laugh. Shen laughed with him, patting his shoulder, accidentally getting flour on his clothes. Yizhi looked at the mess on his shoulder and did his best to brush it off.

"Sorry. I should clean my hands up before I do that, huh?" Shen said jokingly, waterbending water out of the bucket next to the stand, cleaning his hands.

"Nah, it's fine. It could be worse." Yizhi said with a smile.

Shen nodded and grabbed some more flour in one hand, bending water with the other, in order to make more dough. As he began to knead it, he decided to ask Yizhi about his injury.

"How's the leg?" Shen asked, looking at him in the corner of his eye.

Yizhi shrugged and said "It's the same as it's always been. I was thinking of maybe going to a healer after work, maybe get it finally working again. But you know, it's going to probably cost some serious yuans. Is that okay?"

Shen thought for a moment and shook his head.

"No, it's okay. You can take the yuans in the safety deposit box. I think there's enough in there to cover for your healing. Think of it as a type of care. We'll just need to sell more food though, which isn't too bad." Shen said, gesturing to the box under the stand with his foot, smiling.

As the day continued, it seemed that it was business as usual, until Shen heard three people approach the stand. He smiled, but it soon faded and changed to surprise when he was staring face-to-face with Two Toed Ping and his henchmen.

Shen swallowed lightly, but smiled, saying "P-Ping! What brings you here? I-I thought I already paid for this month's protection."

Ping smiled and responded with "Well Shen, something's come up. We'll need another month's payment."

"I-I'm sorry, but I don't have enough yet. I-I'll have it by the end of today! You can trust me on that!" Shen said, smiling and bowing, but Ping and his friends didn't believe him.

"You don't have it, huh? You know what happens when you don't pay up, don't you?" Ping said, a small fire appearing in his hands and a grin coming across his face.

Yizhi turned around, eyeing Ping and stepping out of the stand and approaching him with a slight limp.

"So you're the 'protection' Shen mentioned? Look here buddy, I may not be as good I used to and I may have this limp, but if I were you, I would leave and not come back." Yizhi said, almost butting heads against Ping. Yizhi wasn't afraid, but he knew he would get knocked silly since it would be three against one, so maybe a bit of intimidation would make them back down.

"Oh, a tough guy, huh? Well, maybe you two need to know what happens when you disappoint us." One of Ping's allies said, walking up to him and kicking Yizhi in his injured leg, knocking him to the ground and making Yizhi grunt in tremendous pain, putting his hands on his leg in a desperate attempt to ease it. Yizhi bent fire towards the waterbending thug that assaulted him, but it was quickly fizzled out when he blocked it with water, the thug grabbing Yizhi's arms in retaliation to hold him back.

Shen's eyes widened and he said "Please! There's no need to start a fight!"

Unfortunately, they didn't listen to Shen's plea and Ping signaled to his other earthbending lackey to shut Shen up.

"You two should know better than to try and fight back against the Triple Threats!" the earthbender said, grabbing at Shen's collar and punching him, causing Shen to fall to the ground as well. Ping smiled and the two started to trash the small stand, causing the safety deposit box to be revealed to them. Ping quickly picked it up, opening it to show it full of yuans.

"You've been holding out on us, you little liar!" Ping said, grinning and greedily taking the yuans from the box. Shen didn't have the desire, or the courage to fight back and Yizhi attempted to struggled out of the grasp, but it was no use.

"This will be just fine. Next time, don't try to hide your money and make sure you have it. Or this will happen again. You got that, squirt?" Ping said, pointing at Shen, which Shen nodded.

And with that, the group of thugs walked away, letting go of Yizhi, who had this expression of frustration. Shen slowly sat up on his knees and looked at his smashed stand. He looked at Ping, balling his hands up, wanting to hit him with all his bending strength, but he decided against it.

Slowly, Shen began to grab at the broken pieces of his stand, attempting to clean up the mess the Triple Threats made.

"Don't fight, Shen. You promised him not to fight." Shen said to himself, finishing up and sighing. Yizhi stood up slowly and cursed to himself, keeping weight off his leg.

"Why didn't you do anything Shen? You just stood there, scared stiff!" Yizhi said.

"I'm... I'm sorry Yizhi, but I made a promise to my older brother that I wouldn't fight." Shen said in his defense.

"I know. You told me that when I met you, but you couldn't have just defended yourself? You had every reason to fight and you didn't lift a finger." he protested, slowly turning around, visibly angry. "I'm going to head home early. Just... Don't be afraid about the consequences next time, okay? I'll see ya..." Yizhi added, limping home, leaving Shen to think to himself.

When he had left the Central City Station, he kept his eyes to the ground, not really wanting to look at anyone right now because of the mood he was in. It was a rarity for him to be so sad. He hadn't felt like this since the day his brother left the Southern Water Tribe to travel ten years ago.

Suddenly, Shen bumped up against something big and furry, making him look up slightly to see a polar bear dog looking right at him, causing Shen's eyes to widen. He gulped lightly and smiled apologetically.

"N-Nice animal… Don't try and eat me!" Shen said, putting his arms in front of his face to protect himself just in case. Although, what Shen didn't expect was that the polar bear dog licked his face, making him jump slightly from the sudden affection.

"Hey, Naga seems to like you!" a female voice said, which Shen looked up to see a woman riding the beast. She had the same skin tone as him, indicating she was from the Southern Water Tribe as well, as she wore the same style of clothing.

"S-Sorry! I wasn't paying attention to where I was going!" Shen said, bowing deeply, his nervousness showing. He was always nervous around females and even didn't look at them in the eye, which he was made fun of for when growing up.

"It's okay. It's not like Naga was hurt or anything." The female spoke, smiling at him and getting down from the polar bear dog.

She approached Shen and looked him over, guessing he was from the South Pole too.

"You're new here too, huh?" she said which Shen straightened himself up and looked around the girl, shaking his head.

"I-I've been living here for a year, so not really… I'm Shen!" Shen said, introducing himself with another bow. Of course, the girl smiled at the way he was being so polite.

"I'm Korra. The Avater." Korra said, holding her hand out for him to shake it. Shen looked at her hand, a bit unsure, but he shook it nonetheless, his face showing obvious surprise and awe when she said she was the Avatar.

"J-Just like Aang? I-I thought there would never be another one after him!" he said with shock, believing what she said because he was slightly naïve and the fact that she stood out from everyone else made him believe it more.

"Well, you're looking at it!" Korra said with a grin. Shen smiled wide and stood straight again.

Unfortunately, their meeting was cut short because of a commotion they heard not far from them. They both became curious about where it was coming from, making Korra get back on Naga and ride ahead of Shen, while he ran behind her.

When they approached the scene, they saw Two Toed Ping and his thugs roughing up a local phonographer for yuans.

"H-Hey! Leave him alone!" Shen yelled, quickly covering his mouth when they looked at him and Korra.

"You again, squirt? You really must be begging for a beating this time if you think you can stand up to us." Ping said with a grin.

Korra got down from Naga; her hands balled into fists and said "If you guys want a fight, you got one!"

The three men laughed in unison and Ping responded with "Well, since you're fresh off the boat, I think you should learn who runs the city here."

Ping signaled his two friends to attack Korra and Shen, but they were quickly and easily beaten with Korra's waterbending and earthbending. Ping's eyes widened in shock, but he wasn't going to retreat any time soon. He attempted to use his firebending, but was only met with Korra blocking the blow and throwing him into a shop.

Quickly, the three thugs retreated into their Satomobile, in an attempt to get away from Korra, but she used her earthbending to prevent it from happening, while Shen watched in amazement as the vehicle crashed into another shop.

Shen and Korra quickly ran to where Ping and his friends were, Korra grinning while the Metalbending Police Force arrived. Shen quickly grabbed some yuans that were on the ground that spilled from Ping's pockets, knowing that it was the yuans they took from them when they smashed his stand.

"Here are the criminals, officers! They tried to mug someone." Korra said with confidence in her voice as she watched the officers arrest the three men. Unfortunately, they looked at Korra with stern expressions.

"You're under arrest for damage of private and public property!" the officer said, attempting to arrest her with their wires, but Korra quickly avoided them, getting on Naga.

"Hey! Get back here!" the officer yelled, getting into his car with his fellow officer and giving chase.

Shen watched as they chased Korra, shaking his head to snap out of his shocked state. He couldn't believe what had just happened. The Avatar, from what she told him, took down the three men who had harassed him and Yizhi with ease and even violated the law in the process. It was something Shen would not soon forget.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Shen walked back to this broken stand in Central City Station, thinking about the recent event that had occurred. He was still surprised that he met the Avatar of all people.

"I wonder if she would ever come by the stand one day. I certainly hope so because it would make our business skyrocket definitely!" Shen said to himself, approaching the stand and continuing to make the finishing touches to cleaning up the mess, planning to go home afterwards.

As he finished, he looked up to catch a glimpse of "Shady" Shin, the recruiter for the Triple Threat Triad. Thankfully, Shin didn't acknowledge or even notice Shen, but Shen began to feel anger from inside his stomach. Even though Shen vowed to not fight back because of a promise he made to his older brother, he wanted to find the Triple Threats and tell them to never hurt the two of them ever again.

He looked down at his hands and sighed.

"I-I'm sorry Shun… I'm going to have to talk to them to tell them I don't need their 'Protection'. Like Yizhi said, you need to stand up and defend your own honor. I just hope it won't come to violence." Shen said to himself, standing up and keeping an eye on Shin, making sure to know where to go to find him in order to speak to him later.

Shen kept his distance as he trailed "Shady" Shin to the Triple Threat hideout, making sure to remember the location and the way to get out of there in case things got out of hand. Shen looked up at the sky and noticed the sun was starting to go down, which gave him a slight vibe that he may not actually get through the conflict easily. He gulped and took a deep breath.

"I can do this. At least, I hope I can do this. I-I mean, if the Avatar can do it, so can I... Then again, she's the Avatar. Oh, if only Yizhi were here..." Shen whispered to himself, stepping out of the wall he was hiding behind. He slowly looked at the hideout; the first thought coming to his mind that it reminded him of a regular restaurant that anyone would go to.

Shen began to walk forward to the hideout, his hands beginning to shake a little and his legs feeling a little weak. His heart began to pound, but it didn't let him reconsider what he was about to do. He swallowed slowly and yelled "Hey! You guys come out here now! W-We have unfinished business!"

There was silence for a few moments before Shen saw the door slowly open and someone stepped out. The man Shen saw looked to be in his late forties or early fifties, with two other members of the Triple Threat standing next to him. His eyes looked intimidating and it made Shen think about what to say to him and even made him consider running away. But, he was here to settle the problem and it was already too late to run.

"Yeah, what do you want kid?" the man spoke, looking at him with seriousness, as if he was going to either strike Shen at any moment, or tell him off.

Shen gulped and said "Y-Your guys attacked me and my friend and destroyed our stand. They also took our money, so I-I was wondering, good sir, if I could have our money back and um… Withdraw from the protection that was offered to me."

The man scoffed at his request and crossed his arms. "Wait a minute. Are you the kid that runs that small baking stand in Central City Station with that wimpy looking firebender?" he asked, to which Shen nodded quickly.

"Y-Yes and my name is Shen. And his name's Yizhi." He answered, keeping his guard up, but feeling this sense of fear. "I guess I should start counting my blessings." He thought.

"Well Shen, I'm 'Lightning Bolt' Zolt and I'm not going to give your yuans back. I've heard that you've been holding out on us and since you didn't learn your lesson, we're gonna have to teach you again for good measure this time." Zolt said, looking at the other members and gesturing with his head to give Shen another beating. Zolt walked back into the headquarters with a grin as the members circled around Shen.

One of the members of the Triple Threat bended earth towards Shen, throwing a rock at him, causing Shen to duck quickly and avoid the attack with visible shock on Shen's face. The other member bended fire at him, going for Shen's body. He quickly rolled to the side, but part of the fire bent towards him burned his right shoulder, making him yell in pain.

"Man… I should focus! I have to defend myself. They're just thugs!" Shen thought.

Shen quickly stood up and looked at the two of them. When the earth bender attempted to hit him again, Shen avoided the rock and became angry, using his bending to fire a strong stream of water from a puddle nearby at the earth bender, knocking the earth bender flat on his butt.

The fire bender looked at his friend, and then at Shen, quickly bending fire at him again, but Shen dodged it with a quick motion before sending another stream of water at him, knocking him down as well.

"I'm sorry, but you forced my hand! Now stop before you really get hurt." Shen said, looking at the two of them as they got back up, both looking angry. The two members nodded to each other, bending at the same time and attempting to hit him. Shen cartwheeled out of instinct, avoiding the attacks and bending water back at them, hitting them both in the face out of anger and knocking them both out cold. Unfortunately that cartwheel move pulled a muscle in Shen's inner thigh.

Shen landed on the ground kind of sloppily, but he stood up, looking at the guys who attacked him, seeing them unconscious.

"I think I overdid it. B-But... It felt good to actually fight. I'm sorry Shun, but I had to stand up for myself this time." Shen said, running away from the conflict and hoping that they wouldn't try to assault them again, his thigh bothering him a little from that stunt.

As he ran, he heard yelling from where the fight was, getting a sense that they wanted blood because of what he did. He broke into a sprint, running back to Central City Station and continuing to look over his shoulder in case they weren't chasing him.

Once he had finally arrived back to his broken down stand, he stopped to catch his breath and looked at from where he ran, waiting any moment when the rest of the Triple Threat Triads would finish the job. Minutes passed and there was nothing.

Shen had a sense of relief, but he kept his guard up as he looked at the burn on his right shoulder, seeing that it was pretty bad and when Shen put one finger on it, it gave off this feeling of pain that made Shen wince immensely and almost made him yelp, but he clenched his fists, his nails digging into his palms slightly.

He exhaled as the pain slowly died down and decided it was time to go home to treat the wound somehow. He pondered if he should use what yuans he had to go to a healer and get it treated, but then Yizhi wouldn't be able to afford to get his leg fixed, what with little money they made working at the stand.

Shen admitted that he was reckless that he wanted revenge, but it felt so good to actually use his bending for something other than baking. He hadn't had that much adrenaline since Yizhi accidentally set fire to the stand when he first started.

He strangely smiled to himself, wondering if they could close down their stand and get Yizhi's leg healed and then use their bending for fighting, like in Pro-bending. Shen began to think of all the excitement and experience for participating in a sport like that. He kept thinking of that possibility and how famous they would get.

Shen continued to walk home, but as he walked, he heard something on a radio he was passing by that was on a window sill, which caught his attention.

Shen listened in quietly as the radio was narrating a pro-bending match. It seemed very ordinary until the man on the radio mentioned that one of the players went from water bending to earth bending, announcing that the player was the Avatar.

Shen's eyes widened as he heard the announcement and he automatically knew it was Korra. The same girl he met earlier.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

A day had passed since the incident with the Triple Threat Triad and Shen was still fixing the baking stand. He had found all the necessary pieces of wood to rebuild, but his right shoulder from last night still hurt whenever he moved it, making him clench his teeth every time his clothes rubbed up against the burn.

"Man... If Yizhi would come here in the morning instead of the early afternoon, he would help me fix this. Sometimes, I wish I was the one who would sleep in and he would be in charge of the fixing and opening of the stand. That would show him." he muttered to himself, fighting through the pain and putting the wood down.

Shen grunted under his breath, dropping a plank of wood he was moving to fix their stand, quickly looking at his shoulder. "I can't do anything with this injury!" he complained, quickly taking his shirt out of slight irritation off to stop it from rubbing up against the burn.

Unfortunately, his body wasn't something to behold. It looked average at best, with slight muscle, which was from his training before he arrived at Republic City. He had been too occupied with baking to even consider training again, but he did think about it from time to time when he was working.

Shen got a good look at the wound, seeing it had gotten worse, with it being more red than it was last night. He sighed, sitting on the edge of the fountain and looking at the pile of wood where the rebuilt stand would be. Shen then picked up his shirt with his left hand and looked at it, beginning to think.

"Perhaps I should get back into shape. I don't have the energy like I used to though. Shun always complimented how quick and energetic I was when we trained together as kids. Maybe Yizhi could help? He could train me to get better and since he's a firebender, it would at least be a challenge for both of us. I should give him the yuans so he can get his leg fixed today. The sooner, the better." Shen said to himself, ignoring the sound of an animal approaching. Although, out of the corner of his eye, he saw something white, looking up slowly to see Naga in front of him, with Korra sitting on top of the big beast.

"Whoa geez!" Shen exclaimed out of surprise, suddenly falling back into the fountain, getting wet in the process. He quickly sat up and spat out the water that he got in his mouth, quickly looking up at Korra, who was slightly laughing at his clumsiness, but tried to hide it so he wouldn't be embarrassed.

"K-Korra! What uh… What brings you here?" Shen said, getting out of the fountain and shaking his head to get the water off of his long hair, making it messy in the process, but also getting some of the water on Naga and Korra by mistake. He wiped the rest of the liquid off of himself with his left hand, sighing a bit.

"What's with the wood?" Korra asked, looking at the small pile of wood. Shen quickly walked up to the wood, sorting it slightly to occupy himself from looking at her. This made Shen attempt to think of an excuse that would seem the most possible for her to believe.

"Oh uh… A uh… A bunch of ruffians must have wrecked my baking stand in the middle of the night. It's no concern though. I'll get this thing back up and running! This isn't the first time the stand was wrecked. The first time was by accident for example." Shen said, doing a fake smile, hoping Korra would buy it, but by the look on her face, she wasn't. Her eyes moved to the burn on his shoulder, becoming more curious.

"Then how did you get that?" Korra spoke, almost in a serious tone. Shen froze for a minute, looking at her, then at his burn. He had this feeling that he was boxed in and he had to think of something quick.

"Oh! Just a baking accident. My partner in the business Yizhi burned my shoulder yesterday while we were working. He's a firebender, so it's expected to have a few accidents now and then." Shen stated, not making eye contact and attempting to repair his stand, his face showing strain and slight pain when he moved his right arm.

Korra felt concern for him and slowly got off Naga, walking up to him.

"Let me see it. I think I can help with that burn." Korra said, grabbing Shen's right arm. This made Shen stop what he was doing right away, a bit curious about what she was going to do, but it was replaced with nervousness because she being so straight-forward.

"D-Don't touch it! It stings a little." Shen warned, closing his eyes as a precaution. Korra didn't listen, knowing that what she was about to do wouldn't hurt him at all. Her hands hovered over his burn and she began making Shen's burn slowly heal.

Shen felt a cool sensation on his shoulder, the pain fading away, causing Shen to slowly relax and open his eyes to look at the burn that was now gone. This made Shen's eyes widen and look at Korra, then his healed shoulder, then back at Korra. He touched his right shoulder, feeling no burning injury anymore.

"W-Wow! How did you…?" Shen tried to say something, but he was too amazed that Korra, the Avatar, had helped him. A simple baker of all people.

"Oh, someone taught me. I'm surprised you don't know how to." Korra said with a smile, patting his healed shoulder and walking back to Naga, getting on her. "How about you make something for me free of charge, to show your gratitude?" she said laughing, which Shen laughed as well.

"Maybe I will. But first, I need to rebuild our stand and then I'll get back to work. Be sure to stop by, okay?" he said with his trademark smile he gave customers when they knew they would be satisfied with his baking. With that, Korra rode away on Naga, with Shen looking at his shirt and putting it back on, smiling and continuing to rebuild the baking stand.

Korra's healing really lifted his spirits and it made him feel more strong, but maybe that was just his mind playing tricks on him. Shen felt like he could go back to work in no time. Suddenly, it hit him. He could ask Korra if she could fix Yizhi's leg today.

Hours had passed as Shen worked on rebuilding and before he realized it, it was mid-afternoon. Shen had finished fixing his stand, putting his hands on his hips and standing up, looking at the counter of the stand and brushing his hand alongside it, feeling accomplished. Off in the distance, he noticed Yizhi limping his way over. Shen waved Yizhi over.

"Hey! Took you long enough. I could have used the help, but at least our stand is up and running again." Shen said with a grin, patting Yizhi's shoulder as he stood next to him, both looking at it for a few moments. There was an awkward silence before one of them spoke up.

"Something's missing though." Yizhi announced.

"What do you mean?" Shen asked, the two of them still looking at the stand.

"Where's the ingredients we need to make the dough?" he questioned, slowly turning his head to Shen, which Shen's face stopped smiling and just went into a blank expression.

Shen then slapped his own forehead.

"Right. Forgot about that. I was so busy working on rebuilding this that I forgot the one thing that keeps our business afloat." he said, sighing and running off to go buy the things he needed. "I'll be back, Yizhi!" he said, which Yizhi smiled and chuckled to himself, shaking his head in the process.

Yizhi didn't mind working with Shen. He found him to be a very motivated waterbender, but there were times where he wished Shen would stand up for himself. Yizhi slowly sat down on the edge of the fountain, thinking of all the moments besides yesterday, where Shen backed down and didn't wish to fight.

There was a moment a week ago where after work, the two of them decided to grab a bite to eat at Narook's Seaweed Noodlery and Shen accidentally bumped into a very intimidating man on their way. The man told Shen to watch where he was going and Shen apologized incredibly, mostly because Shen was scared of the way the stranger looked. Yizhi didn't say anything, but he knew that Shen should have defended himself from someone like that guy.

Soon, Shen returned with the necessary items for their shop as Yizhi was still sitting on the fountain, thinking. He snapped out of his thoughts when Shen was close enough and he looked at him, smiling a little.

"Good. Now we can get back to work." Yizhi said, standing up and walking behind the counter, ready to do his job. Shen joined in almost right away and they began to work as always. Although, as Shen was mixing the water with the flour to make the dough, he began to think of Korra and her ability to heal. Yizhi would definitely be more than happy to meet her. After all, it wouldn't cost anything. He hoped.

"Hey Yizhi, I met the Avatar today. She was really nice." Shen said as he kneaded the dough, Yizhi looking back at Shen with surprise and a smile.

"Oh? And what happened? Did you spar against her or something?" he asked. Shen was about to tell Yizhi that she healed his burn, but then he figured that it would make him curious on how he got the injury in the first place.

"And uh... She told me that she can heal wounds. Like uh... Burns and other injuries." Shen said, which Yizhi looked up and began to think.

"No kidding, huh? Maybe I should pay her a visit..." he said, having a feeling of hope that maybe she could fix his leg.

"Yeah, we should." Shen agreed, smiling and finishing kneading the dough, handing it to Yizhi, which he took without skipping a beat.

"We? Why do you want to visit her? You're not the one with the bad leg." he said.

"W-Well, you know. I want to be her friend. Having someone like her to come to the shop would help business. Imagine the words 'Shen and Yizhi's Freshly Baked Commodities. The Avatar's favorite place to eat'!" Shen said, imagining the possibility.

Yizhi laughed and muttered to himself "Sounds like you're sweet on a girl, Shen."

"What? Did you say something?" he asked.

"Nothing." Yizhi said, going back to work.


End file.
